The Bottom Third

In the US currently, it seems as though there are three segments of the population: a group who is pretty much opposed to the current direction that the US is headed, a group that doesn’t care (or is indifferent, or grudgingly going along with one of the other groups), and a final third of the population that is actively cheering this all on.

Of course, the lines between each group are blurry — there aren’t really hard lines defining where one group ends and the next begins. And yes, it does seem a little tribalistic to view things in this way, but perhaps that is a necessary step to realize the issue at hand.

I have started to refer to that final third of the population as the “Bottom Third,” since on a variety of attributes, they seem to rank at the bottom of the list. A few common traits:

• A willingness (and in many cases, a celebration) of believing things without evidence.
• A nebulous love of their country — an unchallenged view that their clan is the best.
• A fear and dislike of people who are different, or not of their same group.
• Lesser importance on education. In some cases, an outright rejection of education.
• A lack of critical thinking and reasoning ability.
• More fearful, but also a greater acceptance and appreciation of violence.

And it would seem as though this same group of people has existed throughout history. While most people in this group aren’t really evil themselves (although perhaps a higher percentage in this group are), the real danger of this group is that they make it possible for the bad (and evil) people to gain power. Because of this, this group is responsible for most of the bad things that have occurred in human history — from Nazi Germany, to [something else].

I’m of course not the first to recognize this group of people throughout history, but as a species, we seem ill-equipped to deal with it. Our systems of government don’t account for it, and in some cases are tailored in ways that allow leaders to fully utilize this Bottom Third (like the current US system of government, where the disproportionate representative system gives individuals in some states a larger voice than their counterparts in other states).

Perhaps it will take a few more cycles of human atrocity before systems are put in place to mitigate the damage of this group. But that should be a foundational goal of the species — a recognition that this group exists, an understanding of the damage it is capable of, and the development of strategies needed to combat the negative impacts of this group.